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How to Set Up Your System

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Windows Software Setup Instructions Forté Agent (v4.x and later) Download this software If you are using a version of Agent/Free Agent older than v4.x, click here. Please have your SFF Net username, password and SFF Net Email address handy (they were included in your original signup confirmation email). You'll need them to complete these instructions. If you have a domain hosted by SFF Net, all of the configuration steps below are the same, except you may enter a valid email address @ your domain (i.e. bettyb@mydomain.com) when prompted to enter your email address. Note:The instructions for setting up Agent vary somewhat depending upon whether or not you've previously run the setup wizard or not: If this is the first time you've run Agent, the initial Setup Wizard will start automatically when you start the program. Start with Initial Setup Wizard section of these instructions to properly complete the wizard. If you've run Agent before, will need to manually start the configuration wizards. Skip ahead to Adding SFF Net to your existing setup section of these instructions. If you already know how to add accounts to Agent, you can jump ahead to the Finish Your Settings section to make the necessary changes to your IP ports and authentication settings work with SFF Net's servers.   Initial Setup Wizard If you've previously configured Agent, skip ahead to Adding SFF Net to your existing setup section. Start the Agent program. If this is the first time you've run Agent, the Initial Setup Wizard will automatically start. Click Next to proceed to the Choose how you want to use Agent screen. Make the selections to read/post Usenet messages and to send/receive email messages. Your screen should look like this before you proceed: Make the following changes to the Configure news server screen: News Server: news.sff.net Login Method: Login with a simple username and password Username/Password: Enter your SFF Net username and password here Your screen should look similar to this: Make the following changes to the Configure inbound email account screen: Mail Server: pop3.sff.net Login Method: Simple username and password Username/Password: Enter your SFF Net username and password here Your screen should look similar to this: Make the following changes to the Configure outbound email account screen: Mail Server: smtp.sff.net Login Method: Login with a simple username and password Check the Use the username and password for my inbound email account checkbox. Your screen should look similar to this: Enter your email address and display name on the Configure your identity screen: IMPORTANT: You must use your SFF Net email address (or an address from your SFF-Net hosted domain) in the Email Persona section. Do not enter any other email address in this section or you will not be able to send mail through SFF Net's servers. You may use any email address you want in the Usenet Persona section. If you're concerned about spammers getting your email address from newsgroup postings, you may want to obscure the Usenet Persona's email address to make it more difficult for robots to read (see example). Your screen should look similar to this: Next, choose whether your want Agent to be your default email client on Web pages on the Sending email from my browser screen. Click Next to continue. On the Download newsgroups directory screen, choose to retrieve the list of your newsgroups later. If you try to download the list now, you'll get an error due to an incorrect IP port setting that we'll fix in the Finish Your Settings section below. Make any changes you'd like to the Configure your update alerts screen, press Next and then Finish to complete the wizard. IMPORTANT: It is critical that you complete the remaining configuration steps below or you will not be able to access the SFF Net servers. Pick Tools --> Servers and Accounts from the Agent menu.   On the Servers and Accounts screen, highlight your SFF persona in the News Servers section. Verify the Host Name: is news.sff.net Verify the Login Method: is set to Username and password Click the Advanced Settings... button and set Use a non-standard NNTP port to 1119   Next, highlight your SFF persona in the Inbound Email Accounts section. Verify the Host Name: is pop3.sff.net Verify the Login Method: is set to Simple username and password   Finally, highlight your SFF persona in the Outbound Email Accounts section. Verify the Host Name: is smtp.sff.net Verify the Connection: is Do not use a secure connection Verify the Login Method: is set to Username and password The Use credentials for inbound mail account checkbox must be checked. Click the Advanced Settings... button and set Use a non-standard SMTP port to 587   And that's it! You're all set. What's next? Your SFF Net POP3 email box has a variety of extra features you can control, including: Highly effective, configurable spam filters Automatic virus and HTML script protection Junk folder for reviewing spam caught by filters Message preview before downloading Email auto-forwarding Automatic out-of-office replies You can control these options using your web browser through our WebMail system. You'll want to read more about controlling your email box in the SFF Net Email section of the help system.   Adding SFF Net to your existing setup Pick Tools --> Servers and Accounts from the Agent menu.   On the Servers and Accounts screen, click the New button and choose the News Server option. Make the following changes to the Configure news server screen: News Server: news.sff.net Login Method: Login with a simple username and password Username/Password: Enter your SFF Net username and password here Your screen should look similar to this: Accept the default settings on the Choose server priority page. Click Next to proceed. Pick Tools --> Servers and Accounts from the Agent menu again. On the Servers and Accounts screen, click the New button again, and this time, choose the Email Account and Servers option. Choose to configure Both an email account and an outbound email server Make the following changes to the Configure inbound email account screen: Mail Server: pop3.sff.net Login Method: Simple username and password Username/Password: Enter your SFF Net username and password here Your screen should look similar to this: Make the following changes to the Configure outbound email account screen: Mail Server: smtp.sff.net Login Method: Login with a simple username and password Check the Use the username and password for my inbound email account checkbox. Your screen should look similar to this: Choose Yes, I want to create a new persona Enter your email address and display Full Name: on the Configure persona screen: IMPORTANT: You must use your SFF Net email address (or an address from your SFF-Net hosted domain) in the Email Persona section. Do not enter any other email address in this section or you will not be able to send mail through SFF Net's servers. Your screen should look similar to this: Select Always use the new server I am creating option for the outbound email server. Next, choose the folder you want to use to receive your inbound mail (the default setting of Inbox is usually sufficient). Check the Enable the account for regular email retrieval checkbox on the next page. You may set Yes, make the new server the default setting on the Choose default outbound mail server if you want. Recall that any mail being sent with your @sff.net (or hosted domain) address needs to go out through the smtp.sff.net SMTP server. Click Finish to complete the wizard. IMPORTANT: It is critical that you complete the Finish Your Settings configuration section below or you will not be able to access the SFF Net servers.   Finish Your Settings Pick Tools --> Servers and Accounts from the Agent menu.   On the Servers and Accounts screen, highlight your SFF persona in the News Servers section. Verify the Host Name: is news.sff.net Verify the Login Method: is set to Username and password Click the Advanced Settings... button and set Use a non-standard NNTP port to 1119   Next, highlight your SFF persona in the Inbound Email Accounts section. Verify the Host Name: is pop3.sff.net Verify the Login Method: is set to Simple username and password   Finally, highlight your SFF persona in the Outbound Email Accounts section. Verify the Host Name: is smtp.sff.net Verify the Connection: is Do not use a secure connection Verify the Login Method: is set to Username and password The Use credentials for inbound mail account checkbox must be checked. Click the Advanced Settings... button and set Use a non-standard SMTP port to 587   And that's it! You're all set. What's next? Your SFF Net POP3 email box has a variety of extra features you can control, including: Highly effective, configurable spam filters Automatic virus and HTML script protection Junk folder for reviewing spam caught by filters Message preview before downloading Email auto-forwarding Automatic out-of-office replies You can control these options using your web browser through our WebMail system. You'll want to read more about controlling your email box in the SFF Net Email section of the help system.   Older Versions of Forté Agent/Free Agent (v3.x and earlier) The setup for Agent and Free Agent are very similar. Although written for Agent, these instructions apply to Free Agent as well. If you are currently using a version of Agent prior to version 1.9, we strongly recommend you upgrade to the latest version, since older versions of Agent lack the ability to authenticate properly with SFF Net's SMTP email servers. If you already have Agent configured for another email service or news server you want to keep using, read Forté's FAQ about multiple accounts before proceeding. Please have your SFF Net username, password and SFF Net Email address handy (they were included in your original signup confirmation email). You'll need them to complete these instructions. Note: If you have a domain hosted by SFF Net, all of the configuration steps below are the same, except you may enter a valid email address @ your domain (i.e. bettyb@mydomain.com) when prompted to enter your email address. Start the Agent program. If this is the first time you've run the program, you'll be presented with a Setup configuration screen that asks you for the names of the servers you'll be using. If you've already run Agent, skip to Step #3. In the News (NNTP) Server box, enter news.sff.net In the Email (SMTP) Server box, enter smtp.sff.net In the Email address box, enter your SFF Net email address (or an address @ your SFF Net-hosted domain) Enter the name you want to appear on your email and newsgroup posts into the Full Name box. Your screen should look similar to this before you proceed: Agent will prompt you to download a list of newsgroups from the server. Since the SFF Net server requires authentication and an NNTP port change, attempting to download newsgroups at this time will cause a "Connection Refused" error, so say No to this dialog box: Choose Options-->General Preferences from the main menu. Click the plus sign [+] next to the Servers and Accounts entry in the left-hand panel to expand the list of configuration settings. Highlight the User Identity item to display the item. Verify the Email Address field contains your @sff.net address. If you use SFF Net's SMTP Server to send outgoing mail, do NOT change the E-mail address setting to contain anything except your @sff.net address (or an address @ your SFF Net-hosted domain) or your email will bounce. If you want replies to your email to go to an address other than your @sff.net address, you should enter the desired address in the Reply-To address field instead. Otherwise, leave the Reply-To address field blank. Your screen should look similar to this before you proceed: Highlight the News Server settings in the left-hand panel. Be sure news.sff.net is entered into the Host Name field. Username and Password must be selected in the Login Method drop-down list. Enter your SFF Net username and password into the into the Login Credentials section field. Your screen should look very similar to this example: Next, highlight the Outbound Email Server settings in the left-hand panel. Ensure that SMTP Server is selected in the Send email via: drop-down list. smtp.sff.net should be entered into the Host Name field. Username and Password must be selected in the Login Method drop-down list. Your selection for the Login Credentials section will be different depending on whether you're using Agent or Free Agent. If you're using Agent, make sure the Use POP username and password checkbox is checked. If you're using Free Agent, you do not have a POP (Inbound) mailbox, so enter your SFF Net username and Password into the fields provided on this screen. Your screen should look similar to this before you proceed: If you are using Agent, highlight the Inbound Email Server settings in the left-hand panel (this section will be unavailable in Free Agent). Ensure that POP Server is selected in the Receive email via: drop-down list. pop3.sff.net should be entered into the Host Name field. Username and Password must be selected in the Login Method drop-down list. Enter your SFF Net username and Password into the fields in the Login Credentials section. Your screen should look similar to this before you proceed: Use Notepad or another text editor to open the AGENT.INI file. This file is stored by default in the \Program Files\Agent\Data folder on the drive where you installed Agent (usually drive C:). If you are using Agent to connect to multiple NNTP servers, edit the INI that controls this personality (see FAQ about multiple accounts). Because Windows may hide .INI files, it can be difficult to find the AGENT.INI file. If so, you may want to call up the file in Notepad manually. For a default installation (on Drive C:, no multiple personalities), click the Windows Start button, then click Run. Enter the following line into the Open: field on the Run dialog box and click OK: notepad c:\program files\agent\data\agent.ini The Run dialog box for the above command would look like this: Find the [Servers] section in the .INI file and make the following changes. You must make these changes exactly as indicated or Agent will not be able to communicate with the SFF Net servers correctly. Change the NNTPPort= line to read: NNTPPort=1119 Change the SMTPPort= line to read: SMTPPort=587 P.S. Don't change the additional SMTPServerPort option in the section, it's only used if you are using incoming SMTP. Your screen MUST look exactly like this before saving your file: IMPORTANT: Close Agent and restart it after making the above changes to the AGENT.INI file. That's it! You're all set to begin reading SFF Net newsgroups and email.   What's next? Your SFF Net POP3 email box has a variety of extra features you can control, including: Highly effective, configurable spam filters Automatic virus and HTML script protection Junk folder for reviewing spam caught by filters Message preview before downloading Email auto-forwarding Automatic out-of-office replies You can control these options using your web browser through our WebMail system. You'll want to read more about controlling your email box in the SFF Net Email section of the help system. Back to Setup Index